The Barge is to be no more, but we are upgrading to a ShipPosted on 06/03/2016

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The Barge (Layfield Rd, Gillingham) will cease trading on Thursday 17th March 2016. Increasing financial pressures have lead to this unfortunate situation, pressures which have now become insurmountable. The building is to be reposessed by the Official Receiver's bailiffs, acting on behalf of HMRC, on Friday 18th March.

It is with great sadness that we have to make this announcement, especially as it seemed like we'd turned a corner over the last year or so and were looking forward to a bright future. However, this was not to be. Despite an upturn in business and it looking like things might just work out, a legacy of debt which was taken on by Nat and Charlotte has proved to be impossible to deal with and so here we are. THE MAN wins again.

However, all is not lost... Nat and Charlotte have taken on the lease for The Ship Inn, Court Lodge Road (the other pub down the end of the road). We will be moving our operations into The Ship with immediate effect following the planned gigs at the Barge on Friday 11th March (Porch Swing Blues) and Saturday 12th March (Wax Collector), not forgetting the last Barge Quiz night on Sunday 13th March.

The PA system from the Barge will be installed at The Ship - we are intending to carry on as before, just with the Barge becoming a Ship. Unfortunately we will need to cancel a few events while the transfer and new install takes place. I'm hoping we will have a working PA in place for the following weekend's gigs (Fri 18th/Andy Twyman, and Sat 19th/Dredgermen), and this is presuming that these artists will want to come with us to our new home. I will be contacting everybody who has gigs booked at the Barge in the next day or so to explain the situation and to confirm whether or not they wish to move down the road with us.

The events we will definitely need to cancel will be Weds 16th March - Inspirational Night, and Thurs 17th March - Tribute to Pete 'Poppit' Gunthorpe (the last being very close to my heart, but there's nothing can be done about it).

We'll be keeping the Barge Facebook page going for the immediate future in order to keep people informed of what's going on, as well as the website. There will be a new website for the Ship (www.shipgillingham.com) which will gradually take over from the Barge site, and a new Facebook page will become apparent as soon as possible. Please check back to the Barge facebook page and/or website for further details.. they can't take them away from us just yet.

All of us here at The Barge would like to say a very, very massive THANK YOU to everybody who's supported us over the years and helped the Barge become what it has - one of Medway's best places for a nice night out with some of the best live music around - and we hope that you will continue to support us in our new ventures at The Ship... with your help we can continue to provide a much needed live music service.

Thank you, and may whichever God/Jah/Buddah/Allah/Earth-mother/Deity bless you. Hoping to see you all soon at The Ship, Court Lodge Road, Gillingham, Kent.

The Barge is to be no more, but we are upgrading to a ShipPosted on 06/03/2016

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The Barge (Layfield Rd, Gillingham) will cease trading on Thursday 17th March 2016. Increasing financial pressures have lead to this unfortunate situation, pressures which have now become insurmountable. The building is to be reposessed by the Official Receiver's bailiffs, acting on behalf of HMRC, on Friday 18th March.

It is with great sadness that we have to make this announcement, especially as it seemed like we'd turned a corner over the last year or so and were looking forward to a bright future. However, this was not to be. Despite an upturn in business and it looking like things might just work out, a legacy of debt which was taken on by Nat and Charlotte has proved to be impossible to deal with and so here we are. THE MAN wins again.

However, all is not lost... Nat and Charlotte have taken on the lease for The Ship Inn, Court Lodge Road (the other pub down the end of the road). We will be moving our operations into The Ship with immediate effect following the planned gigs at the Barge on Friday 11th March (Porch Swing Blues) and Saturday 12th March (Wax Collector), not forgetting the last Barge Quiz night on Sunday 13th March.

The PA system from the Barge will be installed at The Ship - we are intending to carry on as before, just with the Barge becoming a Ship. Unfortunately we will need to cancel a few events while the transfer and new install takes place. I'm hoping we will have a working PA in place for the following weekend's gigs (Fri 18th/Andy Twyman, and Sat 19th/Dredgermen), and this is presuming that these artists will want to come with us to our new home. I will be contacting everybody who has gigs booked at the Barge in the next day or so to explain the situation and to confirm whether or not they wish to move down the road with us.

The events we will definitely need to cancel will be Weds 16th March - Inspirational Night, and Thurs 17th March - Tribute to Pete 'Poppit' Gunthorpe (the last being very close to my heart, but there's nothing can be done about it).

We'll be keeping the Barge Facebook page going for the immediate future in order to keep people informed of what's going on, as well as the website. There will be a new website for the Ship (www.shipgillingham.com) which will gradually take over from the Barge site, and a new Facebook page will become apparent as soon as possible. Please check back to the Barge facebook page and/or website for further details.. they can't take them away from us just yet.

All of us here at The Barge would like to say a very, very massive THANK YOU to everybody who's supported us over the years and helped the Barge become what it has - one of Medway's best places for a nice night out with some of the best live music around - and we hope that you will continue to support us in our new ventures at The Ship... with your help we can continue to provide a much needed live music service.

Thank you, and may whichever God/Jah/Buddah/Allah/Earth-mother/Deity bless you. Hoping to see you all soon at The Ship, Court Lodge Road, Gillingham, Kent.

The (almost) final count is in and the total stands at a whopping £981.37 - there's still a few bits and pieces yet to include, so it'll almost certainly reach the £1000 mark!

We had a wonderful day with wonderful people and wonderful music. Did I mention it was wonderful?

In no particular order...

Thank you to all the musicians who gave their time and talent, and provided us with fantastic music all day - Paul Corcoran, Andrew & Gavin Wilkinson, The Muswells, Roger Allen, Macie Hichlewood, David James Rumsey, Les Elvin, Just Instinct and Skinners Rats.

Thank you to Dave & Bee Freeman for organisational support and sorting the raffle out.

Thank you to Daryn and Steve Gilbert for helping out with the sound.

Thank you to Colin and Tracey and the others from the RNLI (Gillingham branch) for all their help and support running the stalls, counting the money, and for giving their time to the RNLI.

Thank you to Jasmine Reagon-Welch for her unstinting efforts in manning the barbecue all day.

An extra-special thank you to young Jack Constable who saved all his pennies and donated them - it came to a staggering (literally, if you had to carry it) £90!

Thank you to anybody else involved who I've forgotten to mention.

And lastly but by no means leastly, thank you to everybody who came along and supported us, it wouldn't happen without you. Here's looking forward to next year's event!

Unclaimed raffle prizes:

There are still a few unclaimed raffle prizes, so please check your tickets and see if you're a winner:

GREEN TICKET - 78

PINK TICKETS - 48, 103, 144, 146, 164, 166, 187, 202

If you have a winning ticket and want to claim your prize, pop in to the pub within the next couple of weeks and choose something from what's still available (first-come, first-served). After that we'll re-use any unclaimed prizes for next year.

Well, as things have a habit of doing, our attempts to keep our old phone number have been unsuccessful while transfering to a new supplier, so our temporary number has now become our permanent number!